Swanley man Jesse Yelding has been jailed for growing cannabis of a value of £18,000.

The Lime Road resident was sentenced to two and a half years in prison at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday (21).

Police raided his home on August 16 last year and found 18 plants growing in an upstairs bedroom.

Yelding was also found guilty of abstracting electricity after it was discovered his meter had been bypassed.

Investigating officer Pc Paul Newton from Kent Police said: “Yelding had claimed that the cannabis was for personal use, but the amount that could have been produced over the course of a year suggests otherwise.

“Illegal substances can be responsible for a number of other crimes, such as violence, anti-social behaviour and theft, so it is good news that we have stopped a sizeable amount of cannabis entering circulation in Kent.”